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Good Morning. The events I know about are the Superbowl in January and Mardi Gras in February. We changed our cruise to the middle of February after we found out that our original dates would have us leaving the ship the day before the Superbowl. As you said, we wanted to avoid that.

Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday are February 12 in 2013. We will be leaving the weekend after that. Our TA says that should be a pretty slow weekend.

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Rick.

Nordic Empress; Sovereign of the Seas; Freedom of the Seas; Majesty of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas. Explorer of the Seas

One event to be wary of (and they haven't yet set a 2013 date that i can find) is the Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon. This year it was on March 4 and it pulled in 18,000 participants. The race starts on Poydras and goes out to Audubon Park and back again, effectively cutting off most of the routes into the Port on a Sunday morning. In recent years the race has been as early as February 13. I THINK but cannot verify that it is usually the weekend after Mardi Gras.

And here I thougth I was the only neurotic planner! We are looking to sail the Conquest out of NOLA next October! I am on the boards just about every day looking for info on the ports and on NOLA. Welcome to the planner group!

it's funny, some things i plan out....but i'm very much a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of gal.

meaning, i love the research etc. involved. but once the main logistics are set, that's it. i like to relax and just go with the flow once vacation is here.

dh & i are airline employees, and we travel alot. many last minute trips. we throw some things in the bag and head to the airport. Vegas in on hour's notice often. so some things are planned and others not.

when it comes to cruises, and big multi day trips, i want to book early, keep checking prices, and make adjustments as needed.

i like to book my rental cars, hotels and when we do pay for flights, those as early as possible. excursions on a cruise early too as i don't want them sold out if it's something i really want to do.

I have my handy dandy notebook neatly organized with all my details of each trip lol.

anyways, thanks for the heads up. i'll check out the above link.

__________________zip line in MoBay, JamaicaThe Original Canopy Tour, Chukka Park**It was AWESOME!**

I'm another compulsive planner. We will be in NO 4 days prior to our Jan 12 sailing on Navigator. Perhaps I'll have things I can share with those of you sailing after we're
back at home by Feb 1st; I hope so.

I have already made hotel res for Hampton Inn in the Garden District. The rate with
AAA/AARPdiscount is $143 plus 13% tax and $1 per day special tax. That rate includes parking for our B2B, continental breakfast, and tea and cheese early evening.

We aren't partiers, and we wanted to be in a quieter, safer area. Also, the St. Charles Streetcar stops right in front of the hotel, so we can use the 3 streetcars instead of
taxis. Streetcar fare for seniors is only 40˘ per ride---pretty cheap transportation.

You didn't give a specific date in March 2013 - Our cruise from New Orleans left on St. Patrick's Day (Saturday March 17 this year). We were staying on St. Charles Avenue on the east end of the Garden District. The area became very busy very quickly as residents were gathering and preparing for St. Patrick's Day Parade to begin around noon or a little later. We were leaving our hotel about 11:00 a.m. and the cabby had to change streets a couple of times to avoid barracades or groups assembling for the parade, but it really didn't hamper our getting to the port much that we could tell. It was fun seeing how everyone dressed and how serious some of these Irish folk were about their parade !!! Even with the detours, we got to port in just over 10 minutes. Probably other parades in other areas of town as well.

__________________VOYAGER OF THE SEAS - March 2012 - Western Caribbean
MARINER OF THE SEAS - March 2013 - Western CaribbeanSERENADE OF THE SEAS - March 2015 - Bahamas